How council tax is calculated

Details of how all council tax charges are calculated

The total amount of council tax you pay is made up of charges for services from three organisations, Portsmouth City Council, the police and Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The money going to the council can be split in to two areas, money specifically to fund adult social care and money for general services that can be used for anything the council does.

For a band B property (the most common property type in Portsmouth) for 2018/19 the charges shown on your council tax bill are as follows:

• Portsmouth City Council (General Services): £978.03

• Adult Social Care: £61.56

• Hampshire Fire & Rescue: £51.13

• Police & Crime Commissioner for Hampshire: £138.02

The total charge for a band B property in 2018/19 is £1,228.74

We appreciate that the way information is displayed on the bills can appear a bit complicated, but we have to present it that way because of government rules. Hopefully the following explanation will help you understand this year's council charges.

The total increase for council tax paid to the council (both adult social care and general services) is 4.5% - that breaks down to 3% for general services and 1.5% for adult social care.

Last year Portsmouth's charge for general services and adult social care totalled £994.87 for a band B property,

3% of last year's total council charge is £29.80, so that is how much the general services charge has gone up by. It was £948.23 and now it is £978.03

1.5% of last year's total council charge is £14.92, so that is how much the adult social care charge has gone up by. It was £46.64 now it is £61.56.

You can see details of all the increases in the document downloadable below.

Please note percentage increases are rounded to one decimal point, as is displayed on your bill.